Scott Celeste III – Women’s Backcountry Ski Boot – First Look

Backcountry skiers who tour in the mountains and ski on-and-off the resorts are always looking for the boot that can do it all. A boot that is lightweight for skinning up peaks, but has enough beef when the call of the day is lift served yo-yo laps.

Last winter I spent many days in Scott’s Celeste 2 women’s ski boot. For its performance, comfort and weight, (and perhaps because the old Garmont last seems to fit my feet the best) the boot became my favorite. It would have been perfect except for a glitchy walk mode switch. Even after I sent them back for repair, the boots would occasionally lock when uphilling.

Improved walk/ski system: the hook.

Among other things, I am delighted to report that Scott improved the design on the Celeste III with an external lean lock, replete with additional extra hook in the lock mechanism. This type of lock clearly makes accidental switches from walk to ski, ski to walk mode nearly impossible.

(Tech Note from Lou: In our testing of Scott Cosmos 3 this winter, I was overall pleased with Scott’s extra little hook on the end of the external lean lock bar. While clever, given just the right cuff angle and conditions the hook can occasionally be an extra barrier to full seating of the lean lock bar. As with all external lean lock bars, solution is to visually inspect the hook and bar as you switch modes, if in doubt about engagement, tap with your ski pole grip and consider the possibility of ice in the slot that might require manual “intervention.”)

Many external lean locks have just a slot that engages a horizontal pin. Such have proven to be okay, but why not a little insurance against the lean lock getting banged and disengaged? Celeste III boasts this little hook (pictured is that of the Cosmos 3) to keep your good side up. For touring mode it disengages when you pull the string.

Another minor gripe I had with the Celeste 2 was the shell’s removable boot board (the spacer between liner and shell, at the sole) was plastic and broke in half. This was easily fixed with duct tape, but happily, Scott upgraded the boot board in the Celeste III. The revamped boot board is made with a resin impregnated mesh, co-molded with a denser plastic material at the heel. The resin impregnated mesh is fairly common as ski boot spacers and boot boards but having it co-molded with the denser plastic in the heel is a nice touch.

Boot boards are a favorite here at the WildSnow mod shop. They allow some customizations as well as slightly increasing warmth. In this case the boot board is nearly flat with no built-in arch. That’s an important feature for custom boot fitting, as adding material and custom shaping for the foot is easy when you start from neutral.

Celeste III boot bed.

The Celeste III comes with Scott’s “Power Lite Liner.” I have big calves, a wide fore-foot and a normal heel. As Julia mentioned in her overview of new women’s boots for 2017/2018, Celeste is one of the widest backcountry boots. It fits my foot well and I especially like the aggressive built in L-pads. They keep my heel nicely anchored and with no blisters.

Perhaps the most ingenious feature is the locking lace mechanism. I like my inner boots loose for the uphill and tight for the downhill. Maybe I never learned how to tie my tennies properly when I was a kid, but a normal shoelace knot doesn’t work for me. It either loosens too much or if I do a double-knot, it is time consuming to undo for ascending the second lap.

Inner boot with its snazzy lace lock mechanism.

Scott’s nifty locking mechanism works so well that if they were ever sold separately, I’d buy them by the dozen for my street shoes. They lock down tight and loosen up easily. It’s a flat plastic piece so it doesn’t add a gap under the tongue. You have to see it for yourself to fully understand how functions but believe me, it is exceptional.

Conclusion: Bear in mind this is a “first look” of the actual retail version, prior to our extensive testing (soon to occur?). Near as we can tell, the bugs have been worked out of the Celeste, what remains is to enjoy this basic but clearly effective offering from Scott.

I’m curious if you have used this boot this winter and have any feedback on how it skis and skins. Also, do you know how this differs from the men’s Cosmos? I am a 26 so I can buy mens or womens boots. Have you had any problems with the walk mode mechanism? Did they pack out a lot (if they did, I probably should just buy the women’s model).

I’m so excited about this boot. I’ve tried the Salomons and Scarpas – too narrow. I tried the Atomics Hawx and TLT 7’s as well and had big issues. After five pairs and ten years of Dynafit boots I’m excited to go back to Paul Parker’s boots!

I can respond to Lisa. I have always used a 26 or 26.5 in a dynafit boot yet I am a womens 10 and all ski boot size charts want to out me in a 27 which always feel too big. I demoed the celeste 26.5 yeaterday. It fit well length wise but it is a wide boot with a lot of volume above my flat foot. I had some heel lift going uphill, but didn’t notice it on the way down. But I should’ve added a thick bontox flat footbed into the boot and that might have helped the heel lift and the extra volume. I like room in my boots since My feet stay warmer and happier. I tried on a 25.5 celeste as well. I probably could have made it work, but my toes would always jam to the front on flat road skinning or backseat skiing.
Also i can answer my own question. The celeste has a shorter shell height, no rear spoiler and supposedly a softer flex but the boot felt pretty stiff skiing down. It goes uphill pretty well – not like a TLT7 but good enough. Top two buckles need to be completely undone as well as the power strap (which I never like to use anyway).

Hi Ellen, I was at the Scott booth yesterday with Louie, we both were impressed by how “mature” the design of all the boots is getting, and we are assuming that, finally!, all the bugs have been worked out (that’s been frustrating). Personally, I’m indeed excited about getting back into the old Garmont fit, which always worked the best for me. I’m not sure what’ll become my go-to boot going into the remainder of this season as well as next season, but Scott is sure in the mix. I like some of the other brand-models as well. Never a dull moment! Lou